In January 1948 my father, who was in the army, was posted to Japan and soon after the rest of the family travelled on the "Westralia" to join him there. En route we docked at a jetty in New Guinea to unload cargo for the Naval Base.Two Aussie soldiers, another girl and I decided to go for a walk We walked along a white chalk road, eating passionfruit we found growing by the roadside. Noticing a palm with bunches of ripe bananas we wandered off the road to pick them and a little further we saw a paw-paw tree with ripe fruit so we went a bit further into the jungle.

When we turned to go back the road had disappeared!

Imagine our feelings of terror when we realised that we were lost .The jungle was thick with trees and vines and a terrible place to lose your way. After struggling through the jungle for a long time we were lucky to come upon a small native village. No-one could speak English but they led us to a nearby Naval Base. My friend and I got a lovely welcome, the sailors had not seen European girls for quite a while. Eventually we were returned to our ship, it was a day I will never forget as long as I live.........Peggy